Mahkota polls: No cracks within BN due to candidate pick, says Noraini

KLUANG: Wanita Umno has rubbished allegations of cracks within Barisan Nasional following the decision to pick a candidate from its youth wing to defend the Mahkota seat.

Its chief Datuk Seri Noraini Ahmad said that the women’s wing has been working tirelessly to ensure that Barisan’s candidate - Kluang Youth chief Syed Hussien Syed Abdullah - wins the by-election.

“There is no such thing. Instead, Wanita has been going above and beyond to help the candidate win, including deploying election machinery from the central leadership and other states,” she said.

Noraini said this in response to a question from the media about allegations of cracks within Barisan following the announcement of the candidate.

She said this in a press conference after visiting 78-year-old Mat Jaafar, who is the former treasurer of Umno’s Ilham Dato Amar branch.

Asked if Wanita Umno was disappointed for not being able to defend the seat left by the late Datuk Sharifah Azizah Syed Zain, who was the wing’s Kluang division chief, she said that they accepted the leadership’s decision.

“At the end of the day, it depends on the leaders. It is up to them to decide who will be the best candidate to represent the party for the Mahkota seat.

“We will still work hard to ensure that the candidate that has been picked, wins the election,” he said.

The Mahkota state seat became vacant when its assemblyman, Sharifah Azizah, passed away on Aug 2, three days after she was hospitalised.

Sharifah Azizah had won the seat in the March 2022 Johor state election with a 5,166 majority, beating three other candidates from Perikatan Nasional, Pakatan and Parti Warisan.

Polling for the by-election has been set for Sept 28, while early voting will be on Sept 24.

Before Barisan unveiled its candidate for the election early this month, talks were rife that the Kluang Umno division’s Wanita wing vice-chief Zainani Jamaluddin, was among names that emerged as front runners to defend the seat.